A Change In Pace
by IceKingPersonified
Summary: What if his mother hadn't died so early? What if he had a friend from day one of high school? What if he was into sports, what if he never joined GLEE? who would Kurt Hummel be? How far would his star rise without others to drag him down? Let's find out.


Summary: Over the summer things changed dramatically for a certain GLEE club member. Now as he returns to McKinley for his junior year everybody is taking notice because the boy they thought they once knew is no longer the same. While for others this school year just sees them going back to their old ways. Will New Directions be able to pull them together again?

Alerts: I haven't changed a lot about Kurt's past but there are a few things here and there that I took the liberty of adjusting because it would work better with what I'm aiming for here. This chapter is a basic overview on Kurt's life from a little bit of his childhood through the first season of GLEE. My story takes actually part during the Second season of GLEE.

Disclaimer: If I owned GLEE do you really think I would be sitting here writing about it instead of sitting on the beach somewhere with a hot Italian stud fawning over me all day?

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Kurt Hummel had always known that he was different. When he was just getting up in age and all the other boys were going through growth spurts, voice changes, and becoming more interested in sports he felt alone with his high voice, short frame, and interest in the arts. When he was just a young boy in middle school when the other boys would sit around during class times and talk about girls and the things they wanted to do with him he never felt his interest become peaked. He felt alone when he started to dress in the latest fashion designer trends and attending dance, voice, and music classes and all the other boys were wearing grungy jeans and t-shirts and were participating in football and basketball. Kurt Hummel had never felt more different and alone when he had recognized he was gay and his friends had all abandoned him because it wasn't cool to hang with the gay kid. Kurt Hummel had also never been more grateful from the support of his mother and father than he did during those times. They were the unwavering rocks in his life, they had supported his choices in life and had taught him to be proud of himself and never change for anyone but himself.

Tragedy had struck him hard the summer before he entered into high school. His beloved mother had come down with cancer and although she fought long and hard she lost the fight and died. Kurt had never known the deep sadness of death before and it hit him hard, but he could tell that it hit his father even harder. Kurt made a vow right then and there as they were lowering his mother into the grave that he would do all he could for his father. As his delicate hand grabbed his father's larger and calloused one he gripped it tight. He had already lost one parent and he was not about to let the other waste away in sadness. Kurt had changed dramatically that summer. Instead of spending loads of time at the mall (by himself), or at dance practice, vocal lessons, piano lessons, violin classes, or theatre classes Kurt took more time out to be with his father. He would spend hours at the garage with his father learning about cars, spend hours at home in front of the TV talking about the shows his dad watched, spending countless time that he never did before forming an even more father-son bond that they both didn't know he had been missing. Kurt had always known that his father had accepted and loved him for whom he was, but now he felt a deeper connection with his father that he treasured above anything else because his father was not just his parental figure but his only and best friend.

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Burt Hummel had not always been a good person. In high school he was one of the jocks, the popular boys, the cool kids. He had led McKinley to 2 state championships his junior and senior year. He was also a bully, someone who bullied those who were different and not cool. He had always been one for slamming kids into lockers, tripping them, making fun of them, and generally making their high school life hell. All that changed his senior year when the new girl Elizabeth Soiree had transferred to McKinley. Her father was a well known politician who had grown up in Lima, and her mother was a socialite of old money. She was hands-down the prettiest girl that had ever set foot in Lima. She was a statuesque girl with honey brown hair, eyes that seemed to change from green-to blue-to grey, plump rosy lips, and a bell like voice. She was smart, she was in all the advanced classes, dressed very prettily, and was an all around kind young woman. He had approached her several times, as had some of the other jocks, but had been shut down repeatedly. He learned first hand that behind that gorgeous body and face laid a vicious tigress with claws and fangs that would rip a man to pieces without mercy. She had given him, and the other guys, a tongue lashing that should have left visible scars, and in that moment he knew he had fallen in love.

Burt Hummel had changed dramatically that year and had become a much more decent human being. He stopped picking on and torturing other kids, he attended class and actually started getting better grades, he became kinder and more open to others, all for the love of one woman. In no time they had started going out and before long he and she had gotten married. Her mother and father had never approved of him and had said that he was going to drag her down into nothing. He had worked hard and had gotten certified as a mechanic in straight out of high school in Columbus and opened his own mechanic shop and it thrived! Elizabeth had went to Ohio State and majored in business getting both her Bachelors and Masters in a short time. When they moved back to Lima, Elizabeth was 3 months pregnant and Hummel's Tires & Lube had 7 different shops in Ohio and were thriving thanks to the combination on Burt's skills and trainings of his employees and his wife's business suave. When news of Elizabeth's pregnancy and their family business had reached her parents they were overcome with shame and apologized profusely to the young couple. A couple of months later Kurt Elliot Hummel was born with his mothers eyes, and features but Burt's hair and high cheekbones, to them he was perfect.

For the first time everything in Burt's life was perfect. He had a great job that he enjoyed, a loving wife, a darling little boy, and now they had their dream house as well. Then when Kurt began going to school it seemed like their shy but brilliant little boy had made some decent friends. When he went to pick Kurt up from his first day of Kindergarten he had befriended a cute little blonde girl, a little boy with the weirdest hair cut, and another little boy with the largest pair of glasses he had ever seen on a kid. Then as Kurt started to grow he had started to make other friends. By the time Kurt had hit middle school he and his best friend Artie had been separated going to different middle schools, but when Kurt finally realized that he was gay, something both Burt and Elizabeth had known, he had lost all his friends and became a target for bullying. Kurt didn't seem to care he just clung tighter to his parents which was fine until Elizabeth had died.

Burt had never felt so alone and depressed in his life. He felt like his life had no purpose with his wife being gone. He had gone through the days after her death and following up to her funeral on autopilot. He had arranged everything according to the will she left and he felt like he wasn't truly even there. Even when the service was going on and he spoke on his memories of his wife he felt nothing but numbness and sadness. He figured nothing would be able to bring the light back in his life like his beloved Elizabeth had. It wasn't until he felt a smooth hand much smaller than his squeezing tight and he looked down that he found his purpose to move on. As he stared into the eyes of the beautiful baby boy that he and Elizabeth had made he realized that he had to be there for his son. He had to live his life and keep going on for his son, and the lasting memory and legacy that Elizabeth had entrusted to him.

Burt noticed that Kurt had stopped spending so much time at his lessons and began to come to work more with him during that summer. So he took it upon himself to educate his son. They shared so much time together taking apart and fixing up cars. He had never seen his son so relaxed and it brought a smile upon his face as he strengthened the bond that he had with his son. Burt had always loved and treasured his son but he had never really felt a connection with him until now. They would work on hours for cars and spend hours discussing the things that Burt found interesting. Kurt had even tried out for some sports, much to his surprise. While Kurt detested football and would never touch a basketball his son seemed to have a natural talent for soccer and was a great runner. Burt had signed him up for both summer track and soccer and Kurt thrived! It wasn't until he got a call from his mother-in-law that he knew that Kurt needed to get back into some of the things that he liked. Soon Kurt was back to his dance classes, vocal lessons, and violin classes but he kept up with soccer and still found time to work in the garage with him. Burt felt back in peace and like everything was going to be all right.

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Freshman year for Kurt was something that he was both dreading and looking forward to. He had met back up with Artie when his dad brought their van in to the shop to get it fixed up. He had been ecstatic to find out that both of them would be going to the same high school. The very first day Kurt had been rolling Artie up to the school and they were talking about their summers when several guys with letterman jackets surround them and started separating them. Kurt fought with everything he had but it didn't matter because he still ended up in the trash his clothes ruined. When he finally climbed out and went to look for Artie he found his friend trapped inside a Port-A-Potty the both headed straight to the Principals office. Kurt found out that day the administration would never help him or his friend. The jocks claimed they did nothing and the principal said without proof there was nothing he could do. He and Artie had gone throughout the entire week being picked on and hunted by the jocks. It got worse after try-outs when new members joined. Kurt saw Puck for the first time two weeks after high school started and was about to at least wave until him and Finn Hudson had put him in the trash. Once again he got out but this time it hurt, it hurt because he once called Puck a friend and for him to does that to him cut deeply. That evening as him and Artie talked on the phone Kurt made up his mind to try out for the soccer team.

The rest of Kurt's freshman year was spent with Artie and his new friends on the soccer team. Artie had been drafted as the team manager and the two friends went on with their lives in relative peace. Kurt didn't' have to deal with the trash anymore and neither did Artie have his usual morning problems because they always walked to the school surrounded by their teammates. It was during a class change that Kurt became aware of the new machine in the cafeteria, as he and Artie were walking down the hall the JV boys on the football team lets loose 12 different slushy facials onto their faces. As he and Artie began to make their way to the locker room one of the JV boys, slammed him into a locker.

Kurt felt all of the wind rush out of his lungs as he connected painfully with the lockers. He got up only to see another boy push into Artie knocking the boy out of his wheelchair. Kurt looked around and saw how many of the students were laughing or evens some of the teachers' outright acting as if they didn't see a thing. Kurt felt the tears stinging the back of his eyes but he refused to let himself get intimidate so badly. Suddenly a hand was thrust into his face. He took the hand and looked up to see the troubled face of the captain of the soccer team. He grasped the rough hand and was pulled up to his feet as another senior on the soccer team helped place Artie back in his chair. As the Kurt got cleaned up and changed into his soccer gear that afternoon for practice he focused harder than ever, because these were the guys who seemed to not care if he was gay or Artie was in a wheelchair. High school might not be anything like he thought it would be but he knew one thing he had friends.

Kurt's whole freshman year seemed to fly by in a flash. He avoided the football and hockey jocks more often than not. It was tough seeing how he and Artie were the only freshman on the team compared to the gaggle of freshman that were on the football and hockey teams who made his life hell but he made due. He trained hard for soccer, pushed himself in his after school lessons, and breezed through the coursework. He didn't have any real friends outside of Artie and soccer but he was happy with that. He had seen Quinn again but she was a cheerleader and a cruel bitch now so he paid her no mind anymore. He had tried once to reach out to her only to get ridiculed and slushy facial by her freakishly tall boyfriend. Everything seemed to be going okay until one day as he was walking home he saw some of the guys from football driving down the road. He was about to turn and go back towards the school but they had caught up to him and pelted him with water balloons. They laughed and sneered and then drove off and it wasn't until he took a good smell that he found out that those balloons weren't filled with water but with piss. From there on the bullying seemed to get worse, one day him and his father came back from a trip to his grandparents to find all their lawn furniture nailed to the roof, another night they had been TP'd, it was making Kurt miserable.

Kurt came home one day with Artie to find his dad home early. He had talked with his father about his day and left nothing out. Kurt knew that most people would be embarrassed to tell their parents about their school troubles but Kurt had grown up never having to hide anything from his father so he didn't. Kurt knew his father didn't like him facing the issues he deals with but even Burt had been surprised about how easy his concerns were dismissed. Burt had even begged for him to transfer but Kurt told him and his grandparents, who he was sure had put the idea in his father's head, that he would not let those insignificant people drive him away. So after he finished talking to his dad and was about to take Artie downstairs so that they could work on their project his dad said there was surprise down there waiting on him. As he walked down the stairs and the stair-wheelchair carrier carried Artie downstairs, his dad had it installed seeing how this was like Artie's second home, there was a box sitting in the middle of the floor with hole in it. Before he could contemplate what it was barking could be heard from it. Kurt hurried across his vast basement room and ripped open the box to find three adorable Akita puppies rolling all over each other. Kurt yipped and danced around the room in happiness as Artie rolled over and looked inside the box. He smiled happy for his friend, knowing that Kurt had always wanted an Akita, now he had three!

Kurt found himself even more occupied not only with soccer (seeing as how they were winning every single game for the first time ever in school history), vocal lessons, dance lessons (he was learning POINTE!), violin lessons, but he had three babies to take care of. He had named them Elphaba, Glinda, and Oz after his favorite musical! He also spent his quality time with his dad and Artie. Kurt's life was finally looking up. It got even better during the end of the year. When the soccer team went all the way to the championship and won! They voted for Kurt to become the Captain next year despite his sophomore status. He had aced all his classes with a perfect 4.0 average. His life was finally starting to look up.

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Sophomore year for Kurt started off way better than his freshman year did. He avoided the dumpster toss by having an early practice with the soccer team every morning. He had had a growth spurt over the summer and had put on some muscle from summer track, soccer, and more time at the garage. He had spent time with his grandparents this summer and played the Young Simba in a local Columbus theatre production of The Lion King. His babies were getting bigger and bigger it seemed and the rash of outlandish pranks that centered on his house stopped once the dogs started hanging outside at night. Kurt was wearing one of the latest designs of Marc Jacobs the first day back and was driving his brand new car, his other baby. He had surprised Artie when he came and picked him up this morning. As he pulled into the parking lot he could see a lot of heads turning as he parked. His car stood out from all the others and he knew it. As he got out he could see the surprise and disgust as they noticed who owned the car. We went around and got Artie's chair out before helping his friend get into it. They met Tina Cohen-Change for the first time outside. Kurt, Artie, and the other soccer guys never ate lunch in the cafeteria. Since Kurt became captain he pushed them hard to all have a healthy diet. He usually provided food for the entire team. Tina was sitting in their usual spot and as she saw the crowd of boys she began to hurry to try and pack up and leave but Kurt had calmed her down and she ate lunch with them.

Kurt had passed the sign-up sheet for GLEE many times the past few weeks but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew that Artie and Tina had both joined and they told him how bad they were. He was very tempted to join but the thought of Finn Hudson, who had recently joined, and him in the same club turned him all the way off. He walked away without looking back at it again.

The first assembly was a complete disaster! He felt so ashamed for his two friends that were in the club. He was really glad that he hadn't joined now, he would have been beyond ashamed. Artie and Tina both looked very uncomfortable. He looked at his teammates faces and he could see the rest of them agreed with his sentiments. He looked further down the row and could see Quinn looking extremely pissed off. He looked back down to see that Rachel girl hanging all over Finn and put it all together in his head. He knew that Quinn wasn't going to let this go over well at all. He shook his head as the teachers ordered the students to return to their classes.

Kurt was with both Artie and Tina when they got the call that Quinn Fabray was joining GLEE along with three more football players bringing their numbers up to 11 in the club. Kurt knew that all those mixing personalities and opinions would not mix well at all and drama was going to flying all over the place. Artie though had begged for Kurt to try out for GLEE Club because he would make member number 12 and they would be able to compete, but Kurt shook his head he had way to much on his plate plus with more jocks from football in the club he was definitely not down for that. It seemed like this year the football players and the hockey players hated him more than ever, probably because while both had not won one game last year the soccer team, the team with the fag on it, went undefeated all the way! So no he was not in the mood to put himself in harms way, before Artie could form another argument his three dogs bounded down the stairs and tackled into the humans.

Kurt really had to hand it those GLEE club members that went all out for the drama. When Artie told him about what happened with Quinn and Finn he couldn't help but shake his head but feel a little giddy on the inside. Then more drama seemed to follow after that in a tidal wave that had Kurt thanking the God he didn't believe in that he had stayed out of that club. As the school year went on and the soccer boys trained harder and harder to keep up their undefeated record for another year the whole school found out about Quinn being pregnant and getting kicked off the Cheerios. Kurt had been so intense into his training of his team, his working at the garage, and still putting in work with his dance, vocal, and violin classes that he almost missed it when Artie came to his house one day looking depressed. Kurt had listened to his friend deep in to the night about how New Directions wouldn't be going to Sectionals because of the bus. He had let Artie stay over and when the wheelchair bound boy went to sleep he went upstairs to talk to his dad. Burt had never been more proud of his son than he had been at that moment.

After the weekend, that Monday when the GLEE club was meeting there was a knock at the door. Artie and Tina were surprised to see their friend at the door, fashionable as ever, with the soccer boys behind him. Puck looked like he was about to same something with that ugly look on his face before Mercedes slapped the back of his head. Kurt presented Artie with a giant wad of cash and told him that it would help pay for the bus. The soccer team had had a major carwash/plate sale Saturday and Sunday in Columbus to raise the money and Burt had matched the donation dollar for dollar. Artie was so moved but Rachel ever the suspicious one had asked why they would help out the GLEE club, to which Kurt replied.

_"Trust me we are not helping out your club, we are helping out another member of the soccer team, and integral part of our brotherhood. He loves this club and we love him so we support him."_

Everything was going good for Kurt after that since the local theatre in Columbus had asked for him to come back and audition for the role of Collins in RENT. He was feeling like he was on top of the world and nothing could bring him down. He still had troubles dealing with the bullies when they were able to catch him alone but still nothing could bring him down. Then Artie comes rolling in and tells him about how Quinn wasn't really pregnant for Finn but for Puck! He couldn't do a thing but shake his head and thank goodness he stayed out of that drama. Artie begged for him to come to their Sectionals performance though and he couldn't deny his best friend anything.

When Kurt sent his father to go get him drinks from the concession stand at Sectionals he came back with that and some woman as well. Burt introduced her as Carole Hudson, Finn's mother. He almost choked as his drink went down the wrong pipe. This was not a good idea but his dad just seemed so happy to have found a woman that was interested in him that Kurt couldn't say a thing. He was surprised to say the least when New Directions took to the stage and owned it! He had to give them credit they were good, a hot mess of drama together, but good none-the-less. Kurt got up with his father and Carole afterwards to go congratulate them when Carole complimented him on his clothing and even knew the designers. Burt laughed at the gleam in his eye as they began to talk animatedly with each other.

Things seemed to spiral from that point on. Kurt would help his father get dressed night after night, suggest places for them to go, help his dad buy little gifts all for Carole. Kurt had never seen his father this happy since his mother. It hurt that he had found love so soon after she was gone but it was for the better, it made his dad a much happier person. The only problem that Kurt had was with Finn. It wasn't the fact that Finn and his dad got along famously with each other especially through football but the fact that Finn was a Grade-A jerk who had participated in his an Artie's bullying. He was also a closet homophobe, anytime they were left in the room together he would get this look on his face and run out. Things came to a head when Burt and Carole were moving in and that Finn would share the basement with Kurt until they could find another house. Kurt's father had begged and pleaded with him to change the décor so that Finn wouldn't be uncomfortable but apparently it was still not to Finn's liking. Finn had thrown slur after slur at him relentlessly and had even said Kurt was a stalker who had a crush on him. Kurt's inner bitch came out then and dressed Finn down.

_"YOU! YOU THINK I HAD A CRUSH ON YOU! YOU, THE IDIOT WHO THOUGHT HIS GIRLFRIEND GOT PREGNANT THROUGH A HOT TUB! YOU, THE IDIOT THAT COULDN'T LEAD THE FOOTBALL TEAM TO ONE GODDAMN VICTORY! YOU ARE AN IDIOT FINN HUDSON! I LIKE REAL MEN, NOT FREAKISHLY TALL, TALENTLESS, IDIOTS LIKE YOU! GET OVER YOUR GODDAMN SELF YOU SELF-ABSORBED ASS-BACKWARD PLEBIAN!"_

The move-in was postponed after that little outburst. Finn tried everyday to get with Kurt alone but Kurt wasn't having any of that. Nothing was going to distract him from the goals he had for the end of this school year. The production was set to start the same week as the Championship Soccer Game. His grades were impeccable but he wasn't going to backslide and not study plus he was taking his three dogs with him to a dog show in Columbus the last week of school and him and his father were rebuilding an old car for a Car Show the following week. The day of the soccer game came and went with Titans once again coming out undefeated, he had put on a stellar show that night and was back in time to go over to Artie's. The other boy had sat and told him about their heartbreaking loss at Regionals and Kurt had decided to do something nice for his two friends in GLEE. The next night you could find Artie, Tina, and Mercedes( who was over at Tina's) chilling in Kurt's basement watching movies and eating snacks. Kurt snuggled closer into Artie's side with his legs hanging over Tina and Mercedes laps and smiled. He wouldn't trade this moment for anything.

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The summer before entering his junior year was amazing for Kurt he had finished his violin lessons and dance lessons the first week of vacation. All three of his dogs had placed in several different shows, and his father had taken home first place for the car show and gained even more notoriety for the shops. His grandparents had surprised him with a European excursion for a whole month. Kurt learned so much and kept sending postcards, pictures, videos, and souvenirs to Artie, Tina, Mercedes, and the soccer guys. When he came back he had grown a little bit and filled out a bit more which in turn meant more shopping which he enjoyed greatly. It wasn't until he got a phone call from the local theatre in Columbus that he nearly passed out in true joy. The troupe was putting on a remastered version of wicked with a gender reversal on all the roles. Kurt was beyond ecstatic he was aiming for the part of the male Elphaba and he was going to get it if it killed him.

Kurt spent his time alternating between hanging out with his three best friends, practicing with Artie and the other soccer guys, working his butt off with his Dad, and working his vocals off with _Defying Gravity_. It was during this time that Burt and Carole patched their relationship back together and the attic was made into a bedroom for Finn. Finn and Kurt still didn't speak outside of having too. Kurt really wanted nothing to do with the boy who would probably become his stepbrother and it seemed like Finn was fine with keeping that distance. So it came as a major shock for him after he had just sang that last note for _Defying Gravity_ that his door flew open and Finn and Rachel stood there gobsmacked. Rachel had quizzed him relentlessly throughout the day about his voice, that song, and joining GLEE club. He refused to answer the first two and gave her a definite no when she asked. After she left Kurt had put the whole thing out of his mind.

Kurt had nailed the part and every Tuesday and Thursday he was performing. The last night of the performance Kurt was jittery with excitement. He was sad that this would be the last night but his dad, Carole, Artie, Tina, and Mercedes were going to be out there watching him perform, and perform he did. He had never felt so connected with the story and the music until that night. The biggest surprise came after the show when he went to meet up with his family only too see that not only his family and friends had come out but so had the rest of the New Directions GLEE club. Those closest to him had congratulated him and hugged him and told him how awesome he was. Artie was the one who told him about how all of New Directions had ended up here. Apparently Carole had told Finn that they were going to see another version of _Wicked_ and Finn in one moment of brilliance had told Rachel about the show since he knew she loved it. This caused Rachel to badger Mr. Schue to taking the GLEE club to a 'cultural' field trip to see it. Kurt could see the wheels in Mr. Schue's head turning. Artie had told them how the girl Lauren had dropped the GLEE club and they were in desperate need of a 12th member and if the look in that man's eye said anything he was looking at his 12th member.

Thankfully Kurt's bitch-face kept Rachel and Finn away and with the rest of New Directions. When Kurt finally got home and lay in his bed with all three of his lovely babies surrounding his bed he drifted off to sleep wondering what the next school year was to bring.

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So let me know what you guys think? I do appreciate all constructive criticism. Yes, Lauren was the 12th member in my story but like I said this was just the prologue to set the foundation of the story. Sure you don't see Kurt crushing on Finn, hear about his amazing outfits, or what not but like I said this story is going to be very different. The Kurt I envision will be more able to handle the bullies and situations that's coming up, he's not as ultra feminine either in my story either. Yes, Artie is his best friend in this story and not Mercedes and yes I made Artie a year older.


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